


you have friends around you

by sunshinepenny



Category: RWBY
Genre: Bonding, Crying, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Hugs, Hurt/Comfort, Maybe some spoilers, Music, Orphans, Volume 8 (RWBY), friends - Freeform, friends are family, let Nora be happy please
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-07
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:53:54
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29904843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshinepenny/pseuds/sunshinepenny
Summary: Nora thought her life was over the day she got her scars, but what she will slowly realise is that she has friends (and family) around her that will help her through all of her problems and help her find herself.A story about everyone on the team doing things to bond with Nora.
Relationships: Blake Belladonna & Nora Valkyrie, Emerald Sustrai & Nora Valkyrie, Jaune Arc & Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren/Nora Valkyrie, Marrow Amin & Nora Valkyrie, Nora Valkyrie & Yang Xiao Long, Oscar Pine & Nora Valkyrie, Penny Polendina & Nora Valkyrie, Qrow Branwen & Nora Valkyrie, Ruby Rose & Nora Valkyrie, Weiss Schnee & Nora Valkyrie
Comments: 7
Kudos: 36





	1. Ruby

The door to Weiss’ old bedroom opened, the young Ruby Rose entering the room and taking a seat next to the injured girl.

“Hey..” Ruby said slowly, inspecting her scars.

And Nora could see that, quickly pulling a pillow towards her to cover her arms. “Hey..” she whispered.

“How are you feeling?”

“I’m okay...I’m just a little sore.” She rubbed at her arms.

“Well.. let's distract you from your pain...hey, let’s do something..what have you never done before?” Ruby leaned her chin on her hand, looking at the girl who had a puzzled expression on her face.

“I tried listening to music at Beacon but I started too late and then...it fell.” She let out a sigh. “Why?”

“Stay here!” Ruby gave Nora a smile before running out of the room, leaving Nora to wonder what the girl was planning.

When she returned, Nora spotted a pair of headphones and her scroll in her hands. Her eyes followed the girl until she sat down next to her on the bed and passed her an earbud.

Nora hesitantly took it and stared at it. “What’s this for..?” She looked at the girl next to her.

Ruby let out a giggle and shook her head. “What do you think, silly? We’re gonna listen to my playlist.” She placed an earbud in her ear and scooted closer to Nora so the wire connecting the two earbuds and the scroll wasn’t stretching.

Nora placed it in her ear and frowned. “There are over a hundred songs on here.”

“Yeah..most of them I’ve got bored of but never been bothered to take them off but you’ve never heard them so it’s fine.” Ruby shrugged and shuffled around with the pillows, getting herself comfy.

“We don’t have to do this-“ Nora waved her hands around but stopped when Ruby placed a hand over her mouth.

“Hush, we’re doing this. You helped me during Haven and while we were travelling so let me return the favour, even though it isn’t much.” Ruby picked up the scroll and shuffled the playlist, a song beginning to play.

The volume caused Nora to jump and Ruby flinched, reaching for the scroll and turning it down. “Sorry! I forgot to turn it down from the last time I called Yang.”

“Is she..picking up..?” Nora looked at the girl as her face turned from smiles to frowns.

“Yeah..they’re fine, just helping out Fiona and Joanna down at the crater.” Ruby sighed and Nora knew that the fight the two sisters had had previously was playing on her mind.

“That’s good.” She looked at her arms again and Ruby cleared her throat.

“Jaune said to tell you that they miss you a lot.” 

“That’s nice of him..”

And even though it went silent for a few minutes and the two girls were not looking at each other, they both knew it was a comfortable silence and they understood what each other felt.

“Anyways,” Ruby said after a while, pressing play on the music. “What do you think?”

“What’s it called?”

“Uh...Cornelia.” She sighed and removed a pillow from behind her, lying on her back and looking at Nora, who was bopping her head slightly to the music.

Ruby enjoyed seeing the excitement on her friends face when she checked the scroll to see what the next song was called and the look of the album cover. It made her glad, she knew this smile was real and that it wasn’t fake. What Ruby realised, shortly after what Blake and Weiss had told her about their conversation with Nora, is that nobody had ever questioned Nora’s bubbly and go-lucky personality.

Nobody ever questioned if she was sad or if she had anything going on in her head, simply because she was so good at hiding that she did. Ruby knew it wasn’t an easy task, to keep what’s eating you up inside hidden and to keep up the act of being happy and she now knew Nora was finally tired and she had let her barriers fall, thankfully.

“Ruby?”

The concerned voice pulled her out of her thoughts. “Yes?” She asked.

“Are you okay?” 

“Huh? Oh yeah, just..zoned out, sorry.” She gave her a sheepish smile before sighing. “Do you like this song?” She asked, changing the subject.

“Yeah, it’s hard to understand the words and I don’t get the whole..” She waved her hands around. “sound but it’s nice.”

“You’ve never heard rap music before?” Ruby let out a laugh.

“Rap..? I thought that was food?”

Ruby let out a louder laugh. “It is, but rap music is when people say words super quickly with hip hop music.”

“Makes sense.” Nora shrugged and sighed, laying down next to her.

“I used to be able to rap,” Ruby said as she sat up. “Yang was the same but well I don’t do it anymore, she’s still pretty good.”

“They make weird sounds like..” Nora started clicking her tongue. “that.”

“They don’t click their tongue..they like..beatbox?” She let out a laugh before whining. “Nora, your confusing me.”

“Maybe I’m not cultured enough.” She let out a laugh before skipping the song and gasping. “I know this one!”

“Really?” Ruby picked the scroll up and checked the song. “It’s pretty popular.”

They sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds before Nora started humming and Ruby soon joined after.

They were interrupted by a knock at the door. Both turning their heads they saw Weiss standing there.

“Sorry to interrupt, Ruby, we need you, Blake’s come up with a plan.” Weiss smiled, looking at the two girls on the bed.

“Right, coming.” Ruby took her earbud off and climbed off the bed, frowning when she saw Nora get up.

“Hey, no, you should rest, you only got hurt yesterday so you should still be taking the time to heal.” Ruby placed her hands on her shoulders and sat her down. “As soon as I get back, we can continue listening.” She gave her a thumbs up before running out of the room to join Weiss.

Nora sighed, grabbing both the earbuds and sticking them in her ears, laying down and staring at the ceiling.

————

Ruby hugged Weiss before walking into the room, going to talk but stopping when she saw a sleeping Nora with earbuds still in her ears and the scroll still playing Ruby’s music.

She let out a chuckle and walked over, taking the earbuds out and removing the scroll from the bed, covering Nora with a blanket before walking out of the room to let her rest.


	2. Weiss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora finds Weiss painting her nails to calm herself down and she offers to do Nora’s nails too.

Nora let out a groan as she opened her eyes, the light from the window shining in her eyes causing her to squint. She slowly sat herself up, swinging her legs over the bed and stood up, walking to the door and walking down the hall.

As she walked closer and closer to the dining hall, the strong smell of something became stronger and stronger.

Curious, she poked her head in to see Weiss, putting something on her nails. She knew the smell was coming from that now, at least.

She stood at the door, clearing her throat, making Weiss look up and stand up. “Nora? What are you doing? Why are you up?”

“What am I not allowed to do what I used to?” She joked. “Just sit down.” She walked over to the table and threw herself into a chair.

“Was that necessary?” She sat down and continued to do her nails.

“Yes, walking takes all my energy..what are you doing with your fingers.” Nora rested her chin on her hand.

“I’m painting my nails..I’ll take it off after it just calms me down and we all need that right now.” She sighed as she blew on them.

“Why are you spitting on them?”

Weiss let out a laugh before looking at her. “Are you kidding?”

“No..why are you spitting on them?” She repeated. “It’s weird.”

“I’m trying to get them to dry quicker, see.” She showed Nora her hands. “All done.”

“Wow..how do you take it off?” She picked up the nail polish bottle and looked at it.

“Nail polish remover..wait..have you never painted your nails before?”

“Nope, grew up with Ren on the road, Pyrrha never painted her nails and I haven’t had time.”

“We have time now if you want to do yours?” Weiss stood up and walked to the door. “Wait here, I’m gonna go grab a colour that suits you.”

“Uh...Okay..” She frowned and looked at her nails, they weren’t exactly in the best shape, from the fighting and some of the times she would nervously pick them.

When Weiss returned, she had pink and blue nail polish in each hand, placing them on the table and pulling her chair closer to Nora, sitting down.

“Your gonna have to stay still, sure you can handle that?” She joked, taking the lid off.

“Wow, the ice queen is making a joke, glad I’m alive to see it.” She let out a giggle as Weiss shot her a glare, but still had a fond smile on her face.

“Don’t push it.” She said as she started to paint one hand pink.

“Do you think if I painted my scars they would look cooler? Like a pink colour?” She looked at her hand.

“I’m pretty sure that would burn your skin and even if it didn’t, I wouldn’t let you.” Weiss rolled her eyes as she continued to paint them.

“Ugh, your no fun.”

“No, I’m just looking out for you.”

“So are you doing my other hand blue?” She picked up the bottle with her spare hand.

“Yep.” She took the bottle and began to paint the other hand. “Let the other hand dry.” She added.

The girls sat there for a while, Weiss focusing on Nora’s nails and Nora looking around the big room. “Your house is..nice.” She said, looking at the painting on the wall.

Weiss scoffed. “Yeah well it may look okay but it wasn’t..and stop moving!”

“I mean..your brother is getting nicer..he called Klein for me and I mean I did try to drop a plate of food on him once.” She looked at her. “And Winter is great, even though she’s with uh...Ironwood..”

“I don’t know what she’s doing..it’s driving me crazy knowing she’s working with..him.” She sighed, screwing the lid back into the bottle. “There, all done.”

“Thanks, Weiss! They look amazing.” She inspected them, twisting her hands around.

“Your welcome, when this is all over, we can do it again, if you want of course.” She sighed and stood up. “So..have you ever worn any makeup?”

“I wore eye shadow for a bit, but when we got to Atlas I just never bothered with it.” She shrugged. “Why?”

“You just don’t seem like the type, that’s all.” She shrugged and looked at her. “Have you ever considered growing your hair?”

“My hair..no..it’s easier to have it short, not so much of a problem unlike yours.” She let out a laugh at Weiss’ face.

“You pest, anyways, what about putting it in just a small ponytail? I bet it’ll suit you.”

Nora frowned, looking at her new painted nails. Maybe a change in her style would make her feel a little better and it wouldn’t hurt to change things up a little.

“You know what, sure.” She smiled at Weiss. “Let’s do it.”

“Great! Let me go grab a brush and a scrunchie.” She gave Nora a thumbs up before running out of the room.

Nora sighed and grabbed a bit of her hair, running her hand through it and frowning at the knots. “This is gonna hurt.” She put her heads in her hands and waited for Weiss to return.

When she did, she put down more then she said she was getting. There were a comb, hairspray, a brush and a scrunchie.

“What’s this.” Nora picked up the hairspray and looked at it.

“It keeps your hair in place.” She grabbed the comb and started running it through Nora’s hair, struggling to get the knots out.

“When was the last time you brushed this?” She let out a frustrated noise as she tried running it through again.

“Well...Jaune brushed it for me before the whole party here and then that’s it.” She shrugged. “Not long ago.”

“Which is why I’m worried about how knotty it gets during that small time.” 

“Not everyone can keep your hair all bright and silky like you and Yang.”

“Thank you for the compliment, but it’s very hard. I don’t know how Yang does it, honestly.” Weiss sighed as she brushed her hair. “It’s getting less knotty now so that’s a good sign.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes, the only noise the sound of Nora’s hair getting brushed.

“Do you think my scars will go..?” She spoke up, Weiss stopping at the question popping up and then continued to brush.

“I don’t know..maybe when Jaune gets here we could see..but if not, it’ll be fine.”

“Do you think I will be able to use my semblance again?”

“I hope so..we could really use your help in our fights.” Weiss let out a laugh as she put her hair into a ponytail, tying it up tightly with a scrunchie. “Now I’m gonna spray.”

Nora nodded and closed her eyes as the hair spray was sprayed all over her hair.

Weiss places the bottle down and smiled at Nora. “It looks amazing, Nora.”

“I don’t know..” she frowned. “Does it look good?”

“Of course.” Weiss stood opposite her.

“You're just saying that.” She sighed and looked at her painted nails again.

“No I’m not, and I’ll prove it to you.” Weiss grabbed Nora’s hands and pulled her up, dragging her out of the room and towards a room.

They walked in to see Blake reading a book and Ruby looking over a sleeping Penny.

“Hey guys, check out Nora’s new hair.” Weiss gently took Nora’s shoulders and pushed her towards.

“Wow Nora, you look different! It’s super nice!” Ruby smiled at her.

“I love it.” Blake placed her book down.

“Thanks, guys.” Nora smiled at them and waved goodbye when she walked out with Weiss.

“See?” She said. “It wasn’t just me telling you that.”

“I know..thank you, Weiss.” She went on her toes to hug the taller girl.

Weiss hugged her back. “It’s okay, now, should we get you a new outfit to go with your hair?”

“A new outfit?”

“Yeah! Come on, it’ll be great.” Weiss placed her arm around her shoulder and began walking down the corridor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ahh! I’m like the biggest fan of platonic Nordic winter so I loved writing this, they are like best friends and I hope we see more of them now.


	3. Blake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nora and Blake drink tea and she helps Nora talk about what’s going on.

Nora let out a frustrated, muffled shout into her pillow. She had always had trouble falling asleep and right now, it was one of those nights that it didn’t matter how comfortable or how tired she felt, she just couldn’t drop off. She knew she must have fallen asleep for a little bit as it was now 5 am and the last time she had checked the time it was 4 am.

It didn’t help it was the first time in over 9 years that she didn’t have anyone in the room or even next to her and she felt weird..lonely, even. She knew she couldn’t always rely on having Ren in the room with her or Jaune but it still didn’t make her feel any better.

She had some comfort knowing they were together and keeping an eye on Oscar but she couldn’t help but feel guilty for going with Ruby.

She knew it was the right thing to do and she was so glad she did, she had found out things about her that she never even knew were there but it had all come to the surface and now she had scars as a result.

Turning onto her back, she stared at the patterns on the ceiling for a while before throwing the blanket off herself and getting out of bed, walking barefoot out to the kitchen.

“Maybe a midnight snack will help.” She thought as she made her way down the staircase, keeping her eyes on the fallen knight statue which had killed that Grimm that was here for Penny.

Letting out a shaky breath, she moved on, going to the kitchen and turned the light on, walking over to the cupboard to look for something to eat.

“You won’t find anything in there, check the fridge.” A voice said, causing Nora to jump and look at the table. 

“Blake..you scared me.” She put a hand to her chest, breathing heavily.

“Sorry Nora..why are you awake?” She placed the cup down and shut her book.

“I can’t sleep..just the cogs in my head turning around non-stop.” She sighed. “What about you?”

“I’m worried about Yang and the others..” she finished the rest of her drink. “Tea?”

“I’ve never had tea before.” She pulled herself onto the counter, swinging her legs slightly.

“Let’s change that, I like mine weak but I’m gonna guess you’d like yours strong so you can try mine and yours and whichever one you like the most you can have,” Blake said as she walked to the kettle, beginning to boil it.

“Oh..right.” Nora sighed and looked up. “Hey, Blake?”

“Hm?”

“Thank you.”

“For what?” The girl's cat ears pointed up as she looked Nora in the eyes.

“For what you said back there..before Penny had the fight with the ace ops and,” She motioned to herself. “this happened.”

“Oh, it’s okay, my mother said that to me so you really have her to thank.” She let out a laugh before pouring the hot water into the cups.

“I remember seeing her at Haven, only briefly.” Nora nodded, remembering the older Belladonna woman who had left pretty quickly after the fight.

“Hopefully when this is all over, we can head to Menagerie and you can meet them.” She added the tea bags to the drinks.

“Yeah..” she sighed and looked at the ceiling.

“I can’t wait to see them again.” Blake looked at her. “If...I see them again.”

“Of course you will.” she let out a short laugh.

“I hope your right.” Blake sighed and passed her the cups. She sipped one, which was nice but the other made her cough.

“The weak one is nicer.” She wrapped her hands around the cup and sipped some.  
“How did I not discover this sooner.”

“Well, you have now.” Blake smiled a soft smile.

“Ren will be so happy, he’s always tried to convince me to drink tea but I never did..-“ She stopped. “Sorry, rambling on again.” She placed her cup down next to her.

“You miss him..?” Blake leaned back on the counter, sipping on her tea.

“I don’t know...one part of me is super mad and another part is just..wanting to see him.” She clenched her fists. “I just want him to talk to me.”

“I understand it’s hard.” She sighed and frowned when she saw the look on Nora’s face. “What?”

“You miss Yang?” Nora picked up her cup again.

“Of course I do, she’s my friend.” Blake cleared her throat and sipped on her drink.

“Mhm..just friends?” Nora giggled as she saw Blake’s face become red.

“I..well-“

“You're not denying it.” Nora smiled and leaned back. “We all know it...I’m pretty sure the only people who don’t know you and Yang love each other are you and Yang.”

“Well..I’ve already planned to talk to her when they get back.” Blake shrugged and drank the rest of her tea, walking to the sink and dropping the cup in. “Why..don’t you tell Ren how you feel?”

“He would just tell me that isn’t true and how great I am.” She closed her eyes and leaned her head back. “I want somebody to be honest to me.”

“But we are honest and I’m sure he is to-“

“He might be honest and I know that he probably is I just don’t understand why it’s so hard for me to believe that there might be good things about me.” She let out a deep breath. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologise.” Blake walked over and pulled herself up, sitting next to her. “I’m sorry you feel this way.”

“It’s not your fault.” She looked at her arms. “I just...I want these feelings to go away.”

Blake hesitated before putting an arm around her shoulder. “Nora..they’re not going to go away until you talk about them to somebody and if you don’t..it will always bother you.”

“I..want to explain it to somebody..but it’s just hard to put it into words and I’ve tried writing it down before but..it never works.”   
She looked at her hands. “I know everybody’s going to be looking over me and thinking I’m helpless now I have these scars.”

“That’s not true, Nora, your one of the best huntresses I’ve ever met.” Blake looked down at the girl's face, spotting the tears in her eyes. “And I mean it, it’s okay to cry.”

She took a shaky breath before beginning to sob, turning to face Blake and she wrapped her in a hug, patting her shoulder.

She had never been great with all this..emotional stuff but since she met her team she understood that when people cried they needed a lot of comfort and she tried her best to give that to everybody who cried in her presence.

Blake looked at Nora as she pulled away, quickly looking away and rubbing at her eyes. “Sorry.”

“I feel like you needed that.” Blake let out a weak laugh.

“Yeah...I guess I did.” She let out a yawn. “I think I might head back to bed.”

“Good idea, we’ve been here for nearly an hour and it’s like 6 am now so if you want to head back to bed, we’ll wake you when the others get here.”

“Yeah..okay..” Nora jumped off the side and smiled at her. “Thank you, Blake.”

“Your welcome.” Blake smiled back and frowned when Nora left the room, getting down herself and walking to the sink to begin washing the cups. She heard footsteps out in the hall and let out a breath she didn’t even know she was holding in when Ruby and Weiss walked in.

“We saw Nora, is she okay?” Ruby asked as she walked to the fridge.

“She looked upset,” Weiss added, sitting down at the small table.

“She will be, eventually.” Blake sighed as she walked to the window, looking out into the sky. “I’m certain.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah! I loved writing this even though it was a little angsty but it was fun,I wanna see more Blake and Nora.Anyways,next is Yang!


End file.
